Have to agree with MARG. I mean, it's not inconceivable that one or more heirs might meet with misfortune, so it would be wise to prepare them. (The same thing infuriates me about the British Royal Family when I hear that Harry's not being prepped... after all, their RF has a tradition of the second son becoming the next monarch.) And the Jordanian princes would make better prepared ambassadors to the Muslim world if they could communicate fluently in Arabic.

His Arabic is much better now and that can be seen when he gives speeches imo. I remember when he first became king he and Rania did a lot of joint duties and some people said it was because she acted as a "translator" for him, thus making it easier when meeting people.

I do think in some respects King Hussein neglected certain aspects of his childrens' upbringing and Abdullah's poor Arabic is one example.

just my little opinions but i think that kh and munas union was realy just love and not very much more formalities, especily becaus she also just did not want to becom queen, but even then she was learning arabic its says in the book. after the divorce it was probly easyier for abdullah to be with his mother and english family more then with his father, but not sayin he couldnt be but it was juts probly a lot of what haapend, also happen to peoples in those situations. and again qnoor seems more in to arbic and so that could translates to her teaching her kids more or atleast wanting them to know more. and thentheres also what and where peopls are like i know tht p.badiya (?) and munas famliy sounds very english, and noors is more american/arabic accnets maybe they more 'in-tuned' with it.. lol

and again qnoor seems more in to arbic and so that could translates to her teaching her kids more or atleast wanting them to know more. and thentheres also what and where peopls are like i know tht p.badiya (?) and munas famliy sounds very english, and noors is more american/arabic accnets maybe they more 'in-tuned' with it.. lol

I think Noor realised early on that she needed to immerse herself in everything Arabic to consolidate her position within Jordan.

I think the world in general did not seem to understand the advantages let alone the necessity for being bi or multi-lingual. The remains of the English Empire still remained in the upper classes and Royalty of countries who had dealings with the Empire.

Those days have long passed, but it is only now we see an almost "lost" generation of middle-aged royalty who fail to speak their own languages with confidence. Thankfully those days have gone as is illustrated by the age spread of King Abdullah's siblings, who have been taught to embrace their both their culture and their heritage and are thus, multi-lingual.

__________________MARG"Words ought to be a little wild, for they are assaults of thoughts on the unthinking." - JM Keynes

Some of the older generation of the Royal Family were multi-lingual, such as the late Queen Zein and King Talal who both spoke excellent Arabic, Turkish, French and English. In the next generation, Prince Hassan, Princess Basma, Princess Wijdan all speak excellent Arabic, excellent accentless English and very fluent French. I think they all understand if not speak a fair amount of Turkish as well. Prince Hassan also speaks German and often has given speeches and interviews in French and German, as well as of course in Arabic and English. The late King spoke superb Arabic but his English was heavily accented and his French only rudimentary. I do not know if he spoke Turkish. Princess Muna only spoke English at the time of her marriage and learnt Arabic as a second language afterwards. Most of the other princesses who have married into the family speak at least three languages.

Three years later... Here I ago... About the language.. this is something I will never understand. It should be forbidden to be the king of anywhere if you don't speak fluently the language of your countrymen. It's terrible. We are not in the Middle Ages or in the XIXth century (when I know this used to happen). We are in the XXI century and if they can go to Massachussets to study they can also learn Arabic! I do not speak Arabic but I've read in 1999 KA's Arabic was not really fluent... How's that possible? And I think the same about Queen Noor: how can you be the Queen in a country for twenty one years and not learning the language... In my opinion, that's a lack of respect. Queen Sofia was not born in Spain but she speaks Spanish (with a foreign accent, right, but she speaks fluently...) Then, Queen Noor can say in her book that his grandfather or whoever was Arabic and bla, bla, bla... You are what you act... How can you pretend you are proud of a culture if you don't speak the language? Fortunately, their children didn't do the same (specially Hamzah...) And about KA, the same, no matter if his mother is English...He is a Jordanian! And he had to wait to be king to learn properly the language of his ancestors!!!!! That's not normal...

NO. It was actually the King's biggest mistake when he put his eldest son as a successor. Abdullah is not smart at all and his lack of politics experience is leading the country to hell. King Hussein should have chosen somebody else but not abdullah